Climbers Rescued From Oregon's Mt. Hood

Published 7:00 pm, Saturday, January 11, 2003

Rescuers on snowy, wind-whipped Mount Hood have reached a party of five climbers who got lost in whiteout conditions and stranded overnight, authorities said.

Another party of two on the 11,235-foot mountain southeast of Portland also went unaccounted for Sunday, but came down later in the day, authorities said. Both are students at Oregon State University.

The five found climbers left on their expedition early Saturday morning, and were expected to return that evening. But they lost their way due to whiteout conditions and found themselves near steep cliffs instead, where they stopped and dug a snow cave, said Kathleen Walker of the U.S. Forest Service, who is working with the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office.

Search and rescue teams were in contact with the five via cell phone, Walker said. The climbers also had a mountain locator unit, which allowed rescuers to hone in on their location.

Because of the elevation, rescuers were unable to use a helicopter, and instead reached them on foot.

"They were a little cold, but they were about to walk out on their own," said Marty Johnson of Portland Mountain Rescue.

He said the five were out of their cave and packing their gear when rescuers arrived. "We helped them pack and got them out of there, there were some pretty nasty conditions," he said.

A vehicle brought the climbers the rest of the way down to Timberline Lodge at the 6,000-foot level of the mountain, said Dave Sauerbury, president of the Portland outdoor and mountain climbing club Mazamas. The five men, ages 44 to 31, then headed for home.

In May, an Air Force Reserve helicopter went down with six crew members aboard during an attempt to rescue a group of climbers on Mount Hood. Three climbers died in that accident, another six were injured and the six people aboard the rescue helicopter were injured.

About 10,000 people try to climb Mount Hood each year, but usually only a few hundred attempt it in the winter. On average, one to three climbers die on the mountain each year, Walker said.